Occupational Opportunities for Youth
In the early 1900s you would think it to be uncommon that children would have full time jobs. Unfortunately this was not the case. "Around two million[,] American children had full time jobs under the age of 16" (Saller, 8). After the Civil War many families needed financial support so their children were sent to work. Jobs varied from working in the crop fields, factories, selling newspapers and other materials on the street, working as a coal miner and much more. People loved to hire children because they knew they could pay them much less than an adult and it was easy to threaten the children into working harder. Eventually the children's working hours became so long that they did not sleep, would eat very little and become ill. Some even got in accidents in factories where they lost fingers or even got sucked completely into the machines. Companies took advantage of children to the point that they had to create child labor laws to protect the kids from harm and illness. In "Beloved", Denver as a result of her mother discontinuing her work to stay with Beloved was forced to provide for the family and go out into the streets to beg for help and by herself she kept up the house while her mother spent time with their guest. Denver, like the children from the 1900s, went into the work force to help provide for their families because there was no other option.